Tag Archives: Anti Preppy

Because of the holiday weekend we are brief, and primarily focused on lighter fare, Monday’s post is always solemn enough.

We begin with several tidbits of note:

Sadly, this morning marked the end for Elaine’s, an Upper East Side mainstay for decades. Elaine Kaufman ran the restaurant for more than 40 years, until her death late last year. Even if you never actually went to Elaine’s, you may well have seen its interior, Woody Allen’s Manhattan was filmed at the legendary spot.

There is an abundance of rumors that Gossip Girl actress Blake Lively is seeing the newly-single Leo DiCaprio. (Oh my!)

Our final tidbit involves one of the original Anti-Preps, Kim Kardashian. It is actually more of a “Help Me Understand,” as we are genuinely befuddled, this CBS News headline explains the subject of our dismay.

Kim Kardashian will out-do the royal wedding, sister says

“It’s going to be royal wedding number two,” sister Khloé told me earlier today while promoting the new season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. “I could only imagine Kim having the hugest wedding.”

Little the varying family members have done is surprising, but in this instance we admit to being taken aback, and must ask those more knowledgeable about the cast of characters: really?? Really truly??

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We move on now to our weekend roundup of fiscally friendly Sales & Savings opportunities:

Talbots is offering an additional 25% off already-reduced sale and clearance merchandise.

At Polo Ralph Lauren outlet stores the offer includes savings of “25% on select styles” plus an additional 20% off your entire purchase

PLR

Be cognizant of what the promotional literature for the J. Crew Factory “sale” is offering, which is nothing other than the existing discounts. We aren’t saying there aren’t fiscally friendly prices, but prices are as marked, there is no additional discount being taken.

Ann Taylor is promoting an extra 40% off already-reduced styles, use promo code EXTRA40 at checkout

At Ann Taylor Loft the deal is even better, 50% off already-reduced merchandise entire purchase

Saks, Neimans and Barneys all have varying discounts and sales meriting a look; at Bloomies it is the Big Brown Bag sale

Bloomingdale's

Happy Hunting.

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In the Friday Fun portion of our post, a few trinkets that caught our attention; first, the Barbie Dream House Ring.

Via nOir Jewelry

We first saw the ring mentioned at The Fashion Planner blog and just found it fascinating, so we popped over to Jewelry nOir, where the ring is sold, for a closer look. While not something we would wear, for some reason the ring is intriguing.

Our other fun item is a favorite here at The Prepatorium, it’s Fleet Week in the city.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

That’s the USS New York passing in front of the Statue of Liberty on Wednesday, when events honoring our Marine and Navy corps kick off. You’ll always find me partial to sailors, my father was a WWII USN officer. Below, the USS Iwo Jima heads up the Hudson.

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

God love our troops…

Cindy Ord/Getty Images

And everyone who supports them.

Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Here’s the USS New York (rear), which was built from steel recovered from the World Trade center attacks, as it goes past the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum.

We begin on the far side of the pond for a trip to the track (gasp). We can all remain calm, this is not some nefarious excursion, we are talking about Ladies Day at Cheltenham. Below, two of the many hats seen at the event.

We were chatting with the Queen Bee about Cheltenham, and both of us thought Zara Phillips looked very well put together. The young woman, who is an Olympic level equestrienne (and 13th in line to the throne) sported a flat cap today, eschewing the more elaborate styles seen on others.

Not only is Cheltenham always a sure sign of spring, we enjoy seeing what everyone wears, as the “go big or don’t go at all” credo always seems to be a strong influence at this event.

David Davies/PA via The Guardian

Now that is some serious pink.

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Next, a delightful little photo piece done by the good folks at House Beautiful, “Preppy Happy Fabrics“. The story showcases a variety of bright, vibrant textiles from the home furnishings industry. On the left we have lime seersucker from Holland & Sherry, accompanied by an updated and elegant argyle by Tillett and T4 on the right.

From the story:

“The preppy look is back. With designs ranging from argyle, seersucker, and cable knit, consider this a handbook on how to bring the happy look into your home.”

Other fabrics showcased include the popular “Color me Coral” pattern from the soon-to-launch Lilly Pulitzer for Lee Jofa line (L) and an Ikat style by Quadrille.

Chanel’s new campaign for its Mademoiselle handbags has officially launched, we thought we would share a look at some of the upcoming ads featuring Gossip Girl Blake Lively.

Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel

Miss Lively is described as the “Ambassadress for the Mademoiselle Handbag collection”. The new bags come in a variety of sizes and finishes.

One more image from the campaign.

Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel via Fashion Gone Rogue

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Today’s final item involves one of our more recent additions to The AntiPrep Wall of Shame.

World Wrestling Via TMZ

Apparently the Snooki unit is going to be wrestling. From the Pro-Wrestling.com (what, you don’t have it bookmarked?) website:

“World Wrestling Entertainment issued a press release touting Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi’s appearance at WrestleMania XXVII, proclaiming “Snooki Mania.” The Jersey Shore star will team up with John Morrison and Trish Stratus to take on Dolph Ziggler and LayCool.”

Hello-Hello on a day that is more than a little nippy for this time of year. How nippy? Well, here in the Corner Condo someone was overheard asking The Consort if he knew where the space heater was. It is August treasured readers, not October or November. Sigh.

We thought it best to do this up front, providing fair warning about the content of today’s post:

It’s not quite DEFCON 3, but it only seems fair to indicate a departure from our more standard post.

Frequent readers know TP doesn’t follow many of the popular shows airing on broadcast and cable television, notwithstanding Mad Men and TSU’s (The Spousal Unit) fondness for something about truckers on icy roads, not to mention the longest auction in history for collectible cars.

This lack of ‘hipness’ extends to a program called Jon and Kate Plus Eight, a reference to two parents and their brood of eight offspring. The ‘eight’ are comprised of twins and sextuplets, this mix evidently adding to the broadcast’s appeal.

Courtesy TLC

At any rate, sometime this summer it seems the father, Jon Gosselin, decided there are greener pastures away from the ‘Eight,’ and he is pursuing a solo career of some sort, although we have yet to ascertain precisely what his talents are, other than being a complete oaf, engaged in buffoonery that is likely to inflict hurt and embarrassment on his children now, and in the future.

Back to the subject of all this blather, Mr. Gosselin and his efforts to garner attention and financial remuneration; the conduct leaves us feeling we have no alternative other than to declare he is the latest addition to our Anti-Prep Hall of Shame.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Wet Republic

Above, we see him reclining amazingly close to a poster of… oh, wait! Could it be? Why, that is a poster of Mr. Gosselin promoting a pool party he was hosting this weekend. Imagine that.

According to a story in US Weekly, Mr. Gosselin no longer wants to tape the reality show.

“”I wish I had a 9 to 5 job instead of the nightmare I’m living. This is 24/7,” he told Usmagazine.com outside his $1.1 million Pennsylvania home Monday. “I don’t even want to do taping for the show anymore.”

Below, we see another photograph of Mr. Gosselin at this weekend’s event:

Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Wet Republic

Perhaps a reader can help us understand exactly how one lists this skill on their resume? “Professional pool party host”?

We have devoted far more time than necessary to bloviating about someone unworthy of the time and energy. Tomorrow we promise a return to discussion of things that at least register on the Prep-o-meter. Like more tennis apparel and accessories, particularly those with a preppish pedigree.

Regular readers are familiar with an exclusive club, The Order of the Anti-Prep. Membership in this society is reserved for those individuals or items so wretched, so horrid in their excess they simply shriek bad taste. Conspicuous consumption. More than nouveau gauche. You know what we mean, you don’t need us dredging up the gory backstory.

Our newest member is someone we have pondered naming previously, but we declined to do so out of concern for the ongoing challenges she seemed to face in her personal life. We no longer harbor such concerns.

Once again Lindsay Lohan appeared on the Princess Radar, this time over the weekend. The reason was a plethora of gossip and non-news news stories about her demands for a First Class seat on a flight back to Los Angeles from Florida. Ms. Lohan had journeyed to Florida for a Stoopid Super Bowl party, a paid appearance, we are speculating.

“The 22-year-old caused chaos while departing on a Delta Flight from Tampa, Fla. on Saturday morning when the airline was unable to provide her with a first-class seat on the already overbooked flight.”

Besides being another episode in the “It just isn’t done” category, this is another in a series of seemingly endless incidents pushing TP and the Consort over the line, leaving us no choice but to name Ms. Lohan an official Anti-Prep. Honestly.

For those unfamiliar with the dubious title, previously named antipreps include Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. These individuals are also referred to as TAPWSNBN (The Anti Prep Who Shall Not Be Named), an acronym created by none other than the wonderful I Pick Pretty.

We feel we must share a few more “When Pink Goes Bad” items that caught our eye:

Photo: Michiel Meewis

If one is thinking the neon creation above from designer Carly Garwin is merely an aberration, think again.

Montage Courtesy Refinery 29

The folks at Refinery 29’s Pipeline blog shared these in a post last week; you know we couldn’t keep them to ourselves!

All of these creations are from the recent Menswear Fall/Winter 2009 shows in Milan and Paris. Givenchy is responsible for the suit on the far left, Calvin Klein deserves credit for the middle photograph, and the more formal look on the far right comes from Dolce & Gabbana. We thought the Givenchy was one of the “worst ever” suits until we saw this:

Courtesy Givenchy

To be fair, all three design houses showed some outstanding styles, especially Calvin Klein, frequently worn by yours truly. But there was simply no way we weren’t posting some of the more outrageous creations.

It has been some time since we shared any new nominations to the AntiPrep Hall of Shame, but with so many suggestions coming in we are concerned about a backup. Therefore we reveal our newest member: Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth.

AP Photo/Matt Sayles

Yes, that Omarosa. As a contestant on the first season of NBC’s The Apprentice she was loathed by most; she returned for the CelebrityApprentice edition. This is a woman who has taken self-promotion to new levels. Tomorrow Ms. Manigault-Stallworth’s book is released, entitled “The Bitch Switch: Knowing How To Turn It On and Off.” Really. We couldn’t possibly make this up, not on our best day.

“From Omarosa, reality star, global television personality, and the prime-time woman you love to hate, comes The Bitch Switch, the smart and bitingly honest must-read for every woman who aspires to succeed in relationships, in business, and at home.”

According to People magazine, Donald Trump wasn’t the first person to fire her:

“The former political appointee—who spoke glowingly of her White House days—was banished from four jobs in two years with the Clinton Administration. At her last one, “she was asked to leave as quickly as possible, she was so disruptive,” says Cheryl Shavers, the former Under Secretary for Technology at the Commerce Department, where Omarosa worked several weeks in 2000.”

If you are not yet familiar with the AntiPrep, it can be either ‘things’ like these, or humanoid, like our HOS members Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. More than anything it is gauche if not outright crass or vulgar, and frequently involves extraordinary levels of self-promotion.

Every day for a week we have been meaning to post this. We promptly forget about it until the next day when it is once again the most-emailed story on WWD (Women’s Wear Daily online, subscription required) and we say, “Gosh Princess, you really should share this, everyone else seems to find it fascinating.”

Courtesy Estee Lauder

‘This’ is news that Estee Lauder is going mass-market, introducing three different perfumes at Walmart in December before starting sales at other discounters like Target and Kohl’s. How upset do insiders think the department stores will be? Not very.

“Decades ago, news of a Wal-Mart tie-up would have rattled the chandeliers in the company’s Fifth Avenue headquarters. But now the move could be interpreted as merely reflecting the broad evolution in the market and at Lauder…”

Each of the three scents is named for a gem: Blue Opal, Purple Diamond, and Ruby. They will be packaged as eau de toilette sprays and sell for $17 and $25. Now on to our next topic.

In the “Life Just Isn’t Fair” category, word today the curvaceous Christina Hendricks isn’t able to borrow designer duds the way more petite stars can. Ms. Hendricks plays the role of Office Manager Joan Holloway on hit show Mad Men; the Post featured her on the cover of Page Six Magazine this week. Apparently one isn’t necessarily rewarded for being shapely:

“No one will send me dresses,” she says. “Designers loan size 2 or 4 samples to actresses, but I’m not that size. It’s like I’m a freak because I’m curvy and I can’t squeeze into those things. I’ve had some problems with that.”

As regular readers know, TP is so enamored of the show her social secretary knows to plan Sunday evening activities around it, most unusual for the Princess household. A little secret: TP even follows characters from the show on Twitter. If anyone missed last night’s episode, be advised things became quite cryptic at the close of the show, perhaps related to these two? (Laura Ramsey plays ‘Joy’ with no last name & ‘Don Draper’ is played by Jon Hamm.)

Mad Men on amc.tv

Next, word that luxury superpower LVMH (think of brands like Vuitton, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs) had a smashing third quarter, despite many other retailing groups performing poorly. The only downside seemed to be Vuitton watches, causing one stock investment analyst to say:

“Sales of watches did not slow down, but collapsed…”

Louis Vuitton Bijoux

Some blamed the decline on Tag Heuer’s watches, which are considered the lower end of the company’s brand spectrum. We must admit we did not contribute to any horological growth for any company, anywhere.

Well if it isn’t a delightful Monday, despite all efforts for it be otherwise! We hope everyone has settled back into their routines without too many hitches.

We start today with an amazing little book The Princess may just need to add to the library here at the Prepatorium. A friend brought it to our attention after seeing an item in the Post. We are talking about The Hamptons Dictionary: The Essential Guide to Class Warfare. The title alone elicits an immediate chuckle, if only because it is precisely the sort of thing that Daddy would ban from the house, sight unseen, word one unread. It is the sort of thing you just know is bad! It is wrong! It must be, just look at the title, what more do you need to know? And apparently the folks over at the Jitney would agree with Daddy, were he still with us.

The Hamptons Dictionary

Now for those not familiar with the Hampton Jitney (that is not a typo, no ‘s’ on the company’s name), it is a good way to transport oneself back and forth from the city to Long Island. The Ambassador Service the Jitney offers is one of the the best ways to get there (short of personal aircraft), roomier and more comfortable than the train, pretty good mobile wi-fi connection and your own power outlet.

You are now asking, exactly what does author Miles Jaffe say in the Dictionary that has executives at the Jitney so exorcised? The Jitney is referred to as a “cattle car.” In public relations lingo there is a practice called a ‘seat drop,’ where product samples, literature, other materials are dropped on seats for captive consumers to pick up and deal with, be they riding a bus or sitting and listening to a speaker at a convention or seminar. You know where The Princess is headed with this, don’t you? (If not, see example below.)

Way back on June 27th riders on the Jitney received copies of The Hamptons Dictionary; the people in charge of the Jitney didn’t think it such a grand thing to be insulted in the book and also have it handed to riders free of charge so they could read the insult. They said “No, thanks very much… ” to future seat drops. As best we know, that is the sum and substance of the insult, really not much of a bad thing in our humble opinion, especially when one considers Mr. Jaffe’s razor-sharp capacity for slicing and dicing those with whom he has an issue. The author is the individual responsible for the website “Nuke the Hamptons,” a virtual place to go and send imaginary missiles at the homes of folks like Martha Stewart. This was back six or eight years ago, and the entire endeavor was fairly amusing as best we recall.

Appropriate phrases we have gleaned from reading about the book? We’ll start with Megacottage, a noun we hope to be self-explanatory. Others include:

Bay Lice, n., Jet skis

Hample, Beyond ample; more than more than enough. e.g.: “His and Her Hummers”

Slaughterhouse, n., A singles bar where the patrons are desperate.

Million Dollar Smile, n., The expression on a real estate broker’s face at a Hamptons closing.

Renterror, n., A summer tenant from hell.

Opportunities abound to purchase the book, starting with acquiring it directly from the author, Mr. Jaffe, an author, artist and designer who lives in Bridgehampton. You can also purchase it from the publisher, The Disinformation Company. Of course you can (and should) check with your local independent bookseller, and then there are all of the online megastores. (We are not entirely pooh-poohing them, heaven knows we have purchased enough to finance another wing at the hospital, they can be lifesavers!)

Also today we share an update on one of our AntiPreps, Kim Kardashian, always busy it seems. And in the interest of full disclosure we are more than tardy with this story as it was Breaking News on Ms. Karadashian’s blog last Wednesday, the 2nd. Our apologies for being so slow on this story; evidently we must be more vigilant in tracking Ms. Kardashian.

Ms. Kardashian shares the following on the blog (let us point out the emphasis is entirely Ms. Kardashian’s, not TP’s):

“It has always been a dream of mine to start my own perfume business, since I love to mix fragrances together and come up with new and different scents! I hope you understand my total excitement as I let you, the readers of my blog, become the first to know that I am creating my own fragrance!!!”

Ms. Kardashian also tells us she is working with New Wave Fragrances, distributors of Ed Hardy and True Religion fragrances.

One more note on Ms. Kardashian that will really have you questioning the capabilities of our worldwide field of correspondents here at Intergalactic HQ for the Preppy Princess. We can only pray you find it within your generous spirits to give us another chance to prove ourselves. (Not to put to fine a point on it, but this is rather minor royalty.) At any rate, we had no idea she had blown into Monaco to attend their Film Fest last month; shown below with Prince Albert, her Mother and sister Kourtney.

Recently The Spousal Unit indicated that at times The Princess might be a bit… well, a tad ‘snarky’ in her posts. Snarky? SNARKY? Moi? Feeling the need to defend my good name and reputation, it became obvious that some research was in order. Below we offer partial results for perusal at your leisure.

We were delighted to find a wealth of information on the topic, with page after page of definitions, discussion and even some debate; it was really quite educational. Frankly, our favorite part of the research involved learning that snark may also be used as an adverb. Right now I’m trying to think of a way to insert it into conversation that way. How do you feel about Snarkalicious…? Oh, TSU was spot on, as always.

Let’s start with an Anti-Prep Update. This was, quite frankly, impossible to resist. As some may already know, Paris is beyond über Anti-Prep. She actually transcends the category, surpassed only by Kim Kardashian and possibly Perez Hilton. And maybe a few others. At any rate, we present Exhibit A, a heartfelt statement from Ms. Hilton on the home page of her hair extensions site, viewable here:

Everyone should get the chance to be me. That’s why I created the world’s hottest hair extensions. Choose from ten fabulous shades and you will be a clip away from hotness.

If we had only known that everyone should have that chance. To be her. Darn it. Once again our unhotness has been exposed in all of its stark, naked horror for everyone to see. And I had no idea I had the chance to be her. No. Idea. At All.

Well, chin up, shoulders back and all that, for here at the Prepatorium we do not let little tragedies like this derail us; we move on. We stated we would be discussing the Top Social Status Brands and we will proceed to do precisely that, hotness-like hair extensions or not. Harumph.

This particular list comes as the result of extensive research done by the Luxury Institute, and The Princess is more than gratified to see who is at the top of The List. You may well recognize The Knot clutches below from the Number One brand.

The Institute polled 1600 individuals with a minimum annual income of $150,000 for the survey, and Bottega Veneta took the top spot. In a story about the poll, Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza notes “Bottega is subtle and inconspicuous — and paradoxically has gotten some press for this…You know it if you’re in the know. It’s for people who aren’t looking to impress others.” Below we show a look from their Fall/Winter 2008 apparel line.

BTW, if you were wondering who Anna Wintour might fancy come this fall’s election, here’s a clue: she had quite a role at last night’s fundraiser for prospective First Lady Michelle Obama, at a Manhattan gallery. (Wintour is the oh-so-powerful Editor at Vogue magazine and hypothetically the role model for Michelle Obama

Judging from the list of attendees at the function it was quite the place to be.Remember our mentions of Lauren Santo Domingo in previous posts? She was also at last night’s festivities at the Chelsea gallery in a divine Oscar de la Renta frock along with Spike Lee, designers Monique Lhuillier, Georgina Chapman and Nicole Miller. (You know, the Nina Ricci-SJP-SATC-Premiere-Dress-from-You-Know-Where-Nightmare that Lauren wore first?)

Speaking of Sex and the City, Cynthia Nixon also attended, wearing Calvin Klein Collection. Others in attendance included Lebron James and his girlfriend, and you could see Zac Posen’s “Yes We Can, Obama 08” t-shirt beneath his blazer. Many thanks to Fashion Week Daily for the fab photos!

We close with this absolutely delightful image from the good folks at Barneys. It was part of an email from them several days ago; looking at it keeps bringing a smile to my face. On an afternoon when some whimsy seems like a good idea, we’ll just leave things here and say “Au revoir.” (It is linked if you feel compelled to click!)